Policy design and state capacity in the COVID-19 emergency in Italy: if you are not prepared for the (un)expected, you can be only what you already are

Italy was the first large epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Western world. Since the country has not had any serious experience with this kind of disease in recent decades, its response has been indicative of a first reaction to an (un)known and (un)expected event. At the same time, the Italian experience is an emblematic case of how a lack of specific preparedness measures drives a country to deal with this kind of crisis through a process in which the existing characteristics of the policy and political system, with all their pros and cons, prevail. This means that the existing country characteristics that affects policy design, state capacity, institutional arrangements and political games forge the process and content of the response. Based on this observation, this paper analyses the policy dynamics of the first four months of management of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, focusing on how the health and economic responses were designed and implemented

Counseling and psychotherapy in italy: Historical, cultural, and indigenous perspectives

The field of psychotherapy in Italy shows a plurality of voices that makes it hard to depict it, if not in broad strokes. At the same time, some common elements characterize the main discourses that inform the knowledge, training, and practice of psychotherapy in Italy. Some of these elements are about potentially constructive aspects of the Italian therapy scenario, like the professional regulations given by the Italian Order of Psychologists and the Ministry of Education, University and Research, the humanitarian role of the Roman-Catholic Church, the challenges and opportunities offered by the recent immigration, and the emphasis on relational and ecological (as opposed to detached, laboratory-style, and individualist) approaches to psychology. While other aspects may be deemed questionable and detrimental to the field, like the closed oligarchy of the university system, the relative international isolation of Italian psychotherapists, and the limited dedication to research studies in counseling and psychotherapy, especially concerning issues of cultural diversity and clinical or training outcomes

Mapping the use of knowledge in policymaking: barriers and facilitators from a subjectivist perspective (1990–2020)

The use of knowledge and evidence in policymaking is a recurrent topic of research due to its scientific and policy relevance. The existing and expansive body of literature has been scrutinised in various ways to grasp the dimensions of knowledge utilisation in policymak- ing, although most of this research has a monosectoral focus and is based on very general criteria of analysis that do not completely account for the complexity of policy making. This paper overcomes this limitation by enlightening the epistemological divide in the field between an objectivist and a subjectivist perspective and by distinguishing two dif- ferent focuses in this literature: a focus on knowledge for policy making and a focus on knowledge in policy making. Based on this analytical distinction, the paper presents an original and unprecedented systematic, intersectoral metareview by considering the thirty- year period between 1990 and 2020 (approximately 1,400 were selected for fine-grained analysis). This metareview offers a broader and more detailed map with a clear idea of the distribution of interest in the topic among the different policy fields, a better classification of the theoretical/empirical content and research goals that scholars adopt and a novel and, above all, more fine-grained perspective on the types of conditions that favour or disfavour a significant role of knowledge in policymaking. Ultimately, and above all, this metareview identifies three highly relevant components of policy making that can facilitate or constrain the use of knowledge in policymaking more than others: values/ideology/beliefs, actors’ relationships, and policy capacities

Designing policy robustness: outputs and processes

Faced with growing policy complexity and environmental uncertainty, policymakers are increasingly concerned with ensuring that policy processes retain functionality amidst shock and uncertainty. In this paper, we seek to address the ways in which robustness \u2013 or the capability of policies to maintain functionality and effectiveness in policy goal attainment \u2013 can be designed into policies, institutions or systems. We suggest that robust policy designs can be characterized by diversity, modularity and redundancy, whereas robust policy design processes require the presence of polycentric decisional process, political capacity and technical capacity. In identifying these design elements of policy robustness, we argue that robustness is a property that can be designed to ensure that policies continue to deliver, over time, its intended functions, purposes and objectives, even under negative circumstances

Techno-economic Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Italian Electricity System

Since the end of 2019, the sadly known Sars-CoV-2 has firstly spread to China and then to the rest of the world, giving rise to the pandemic known as COVID-19. The high number of deaths and the stressful conditions of public health systems suggested governments to impose social restrictions to contain the virus diffusion. The adopted measures differed from country to country, but they often resulted in the closure of schools, workplaces and meeting places. In Italy, in addition to local restrictions adopted in the areas where the health situation was particularly severe, the decree law of March 4, 2020 imposed social restrictions for the entire country (e.g. closure of schools and ban on gatherings). Subsequently, with a series of decree laws, the measures became more severe and on March 22, 2020 the government imposed the lockdown of all face-toface activities related to production chains concerning nonessential goods. These decrees implicated a considerable reduction in the electrical demand with consequent impacts on both electrical markets and operation strategies of the Transmission System Operator (TSO). Due to the low demand, compared to usual load conditions, fewer conventional power plants were dispatched in the Day Ahead Market; therefore, a decrease in the price of energy occurred, as well as an increment of the renewable penetration. At the same time, conventional power plants played a key role in the Ancillary Services Market to ensure the safe operation of the transmission system. In this work, the reduction of the electrical demand and its impacts on both electrical markets and network operation strategies are analysed and discussed for the Italian power system

Mutations in the RB1 Gene in Argentine Retinoblastoma Patients and Uncommon Clinical Presentations

Background: Retinoblastoma, the most common ocular cancer of childhood, is caused by inactivation of the RB1 tumor suppressor gene in the developing retina. It may occur as unilateral, bilateral or rarely as multicentric retinoblastoma, including pineal or suprasellar tumors. Being the retinoblastoma a hereditary cancer, identification of the causative mutation is important for risk prediction in the family members. An early detection of tumor is critical for survival and eye preservation. Screening for RB1 mutations is important for early tumor detection, critical for survival and eye preservation. Purpose: To identify causative RB1 mutations in retinoblastoma patients with different clinical presentations, some of them with a rare multicentric retinoblastoma or with a second non ocular malignancy, as well as the rare association with down syndrome. A comprehensive approach was used to identify the mutations and to detect children with a hereditary condition. Methods: A cohort of 20 patients with unilateral, bilateral and multicentric retinoblastoma was studied. Blood and tumor DNA was analyzed by sequencing, segregation of polymorphisms and MLPA analyses. Some of the rare mutations were validated by cloning or by Real-Time PCR. Results: Six germline and seven somatic mutations were identified; they include nonsense, frameshift, splice mutations and gross rearrangements, four of them novel. Three out of four nonsense/ frameshift germline mutations were associated with severe phenotype: bilateral and multicentric retinoblastomas. The at-riskhaplotype was identified in a familial case including one patient with osteosarcoma; it was useful for detection of mutation carriers. Conclusions: This study allowed us to identify causative RB1 mutations, including several novels. Some patients showed uncommon clinical presentations of retinoblastoma. These data are significant for genetic counseling. Our results support the relevance of carrying out complete genetic screening for RB1 mutations in both constitutional and tumor tissues.Fil: Ottaviani, Daniela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Genética y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Parma, Diana Lidia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Genética y Biología Molecular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Ferrer, Marcela Maria. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Hospital de Clínicas General San Martín; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Florencia Giliberto. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Genética y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Luce, Leonela Natalia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Genética y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Alonso, Cristina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Pediatría "Juan P. Garrahan". Servicio de Hemato-Oncología; ArgentinaFil: Szijan, Irena. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Genética y Biología Molecular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; Argentin

PRINCIPI E LIMITI DI UNA POLITICA PENALE EUROPEA.

Il diritto dell\u2019Unione europea possiede oggi un\u2019influenza sempre pi\uf9 rilevante sul diritto penale degli Stati membri. A partire dall\u2019entrata in vigore del Trattato di Lisbona, tale influenza coinvolge espressamente anche le scelte di criminalizzazione, potendo l\u2019Unione operare direttamente la decisione circa l\u2019an e in parte anche il quantum di pena. Le istituzioni dell\u2019Unione hanno gi\ue0 iniziato ad adottare direttive in materia penale impiegando quale base giuridica l\u2019art. 83 TFUE, e ci si pu\uf2 ragionevolmente attendere che tale prassi si consolidi e aumenti il numero degli atti adottati, andando cos\uec a costituire un corpus normativo di crescente rilevanza per gli ordinamenti nazionali e in ultima analisi per i singoli individui. La tesi ripercorre le pi\uf9 importanti tappe che hanno condotto all\u2019attuale sviluppo della competenza penale europea, soffermandosi principalmente sul quadro istituzionale introdotto dal Trattato di Lisbona (capitolo primo). Successivamente fornisce un sintetico riepilogo degli strumenti istituzionali e normativi di maggiore rilievo nel settore considerato e delle loro pi\uf9 rilevanti caratteristiche (capitolo secondo), passando poi ad effettuare una disamina dei principali atti sino ad oggi adottati, prima nel vigore del terzo pilastro e poi sotto la base giuridica fornita dal Trattato di Lisbona (capitolo terzo). Infine, prova a verificare la presenza, i caratteri e la giustiziabilit\ue0 dei fondamentali principi della legislazione penale nell\u2019ordinamento dell\u2019Unione europea, alla luce della normazione vigente e della giurisprudenza della Corte di giustizia (capitolo quarto), per poi tentare di affermare la sussistenza di basi fondative per lo sviluppo di una vera e propria politica penale europea.European Union law today has an increasingly relevant influence on national criminal law. Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, this influence has expressly involved the choices of criminalization as well, as the European Union may directly operate the decision on if and partly how much to punish. The institutions have already begun to adopt directives on criminal matters using art. 83 TFEU as a legal basis, and one can reasonably expect that this practice will consolidate and that the number of measures adopted will increase, thus creating a corpus of legislation which has a growing relevance on the national legal systems and, ultimately, on individuals. The dissertation recalls the most important landmarks that have led to the present development of the European criminal competence, focusing mainly on the institutional framework adopted by the Lisbon Treaty (chapter one). Later, it provides a brief recall of the institutional and legal instruments that have a main role in the relevant subject and of their main characteristics (chapter two). Then, it moves to deal with the main legal acts that have been adopted till now, first in the third pillar framework and then under the legal basis provided by the Lisbon Treaty (chapter three). Eventually, it aims to verify the presence, the characteristics and the possibility to be appealed to on a trial of the fundamental principles of criminal legislation, in the light of the legislation in force and of the case law of the CJEU (chapter four), in order to attempt to maintain the existence of founding basis to the development of an actual European criminal policy

When the political leader is the narrator: the political and policy dimensions of narratives

There is increasing interest in the role of narratives in policy-making, as evidenced by the consolidation of the Narrative Policy Framework, a theory of the policy process whose overall aim is to explain how policy narratives influence policy outcomes. However, with the focus on only policy narratives, there is a risk of underestimating the relationship between the policy dynamics in a specific subsystem and the pursuit of consent in the political arena. To attract more scholarly attention to this relationship, this paper distinguishes between two types of narratives—the political narrative and the policy narrative. It focuses on how political leaders address the trade-off between the content of their political and policy narratives, not only adding analytical and theoretical leverage to the Narrative Policy Framework but also providing a fine-grained comprehension of the multilayered dynamics of narratives in politics. Our main assumption is that political leaders continuously address relationships and the eventual trade-off between their political narratives (the stories through which they shape the preferences of public opinion by proposing their general political vision) and their policy narratives (the stories they tell to shape the policy process and its outputs). The way leaders decide between these trade-offs can make a significant difference in terms of political and policy outputs. We test this assumption with a comparison of the use of narratives by the same political leader in labour and education policies in Italy

Le projet entrepreneurial comme outil de transmission de pratique RSE

La responsabilité sociale des enseignants de l’enseignement supérieur questionne les modèles et modalités de transmission des différentes formes de savoirs et d’accompagnement des étudiants. Elle interroge les dispositifs qui permettent la transmission des méta compétences que sont l’agir collectif, l’organiser responsable, le penser RSE. Elle inscrit la réflexion dans une valorisation des actions d’analyse et de remise en cause des pratiques en environnement complexe. Donner du sens devient un objectif de l’aujourd’hui et du demain. La recherche s’appuie sur un dispositif de première année universitaire intitulé « Dynamique de l’entreprise ». Elle propose, dans une approche exploratoire, d’identifier l’apport d’une équipe pluridisciplinaire à l’apprentissage de l’interdisciplinarité auprès de publics hétérogènes. Il s’agit d’analyser l’apport du projet entrepreneurial dans l’acquisition d’un savoir agir collectif en situation complexe